She just might get you lost,
And she just might leave you torn,
But she just might save your soul
If she gets you any closer….–Rooftops and Invitations

Dashboard Confessional

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Today’s music selection comes from my current re-discovering of Dashboard Confessional. Do you guys ever go back and listen to a band you liked years ago and realize that you still love them and their songs still hit you in the feels? And it just feels like… coming home. I don’t really know exactly how to quantify it but that’s what it feels like. So, you know… just listen and enjoy.

You know all that stuff about being secretly a mermaid? Yep, there’s hats, swimsuits, shirts, necklaces, leggings, pencils… all of it. But lets be real here, if you were a mermaid, wouldn’t you just tell everybody? Just own that shit because ITS AWESOME! But… you know… more like the Daryl Hannah or Peter Pan kinds. Not the Harry Potter ones, those give me nightmares.

Anyway. The moral of the story is be a mermaid. Be magical. Own that shiz and don’t care what anyone else says. Oh! And you know, it doesn’t hurt to have something that looks like a mermaid on to REALLY identify yourself. Like a Mermaid beach floppy hat perhaps?

Aside from Mermaids, the inspiration from this project came from the wonderful Rachel Mae Smith of thecraftedlife.com and Sarah Hearts who hosted a DIY Floppy hat workshop at Craftcation 2017. If you’re a maker, creator, seller, etc. I definitely recommend signing up because it is a truly amazing learning and connecting experience.

I’m in love with the Martha Stewart pouncers but I really didn’t want to buy more than one package so I hacked them with melamine sponges. To do this, you’ll need some magic eraser sponges – I got mine from the dollar store, a large Martha Stewart foam pouncer and a craft knife.

Remove the foam part of the pouncer and use the casing to create 2 circle cut outs from each sponge. Glue them together – on top of each other – and let it sit for about an hour or two to dry. Stick the stacked sponge into the empty pouncer container and use a craft knife to carefully trim away the sides to create a neat circle. Now you’ve got a total of 3 pouncers, one for each color!

Okay, on to the hat!

Start by creating a pallette of each color for dipping. I like using the lid of a sour cream container or a paper plate. Stamp in a random pattern around the edge of the hat.

Once that’s done, start layering colors in random order around and up until the entire brim is painted. Stop as close as you can to the crown of the hat.

Grab a medium to large flat paintbrush to add in some detail with an accent color. For this project, I used metallic bronze. Lightly brush paint around a few of the “scales” and finish by painting a band around the base of the hat to give it a more finished look.

Allow it to dry completely and you’re off to show everyone your fancy mermaid self!

It’s a Feist kind of day and no one is going to stop me. Instead, listen to her soothing voice as you create! And work! Or take a nap. It’s kinda good for everything!

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Let’s talk about the Care Bears shall we? So… I, along with many of you grew up on them and are probably now introducing the brand to all of your littles. But not the new CGI ones. Those were an abomination and should never be talked about again. I’m talking about the OG, hand drawn Care Bears. My favorite one was Care Bears in Wonderland. I have no idea why, but those were some seriously good times. Scared to admit you’re a Care Bears fan? Feel like others will tell you they’re “too kiddie”? Just own it! Do you really care what someone else is gonna say?

Okay now that we’re feeling all nostalgic, let me introduce you guys to today’s DIY. Yep, you too can have your favorite bear with you wherever you go! For these painted Care Bears shoes I used Grumpy Bear (because even though he was Grumpy, he was still pretty awesome) and Cheer Bear… because… Cheer Bear? And rainbows!

This project was pretty cheap to do, I found the blue shoes at Walmart on sale for $3! $3 you guys! I nearly filled my cart! But I decided against it because I am a responsible adult (sometimes).

Mix white paint with a bit of fabric medium and fill in each circle with a thin layer of paint. Allow to dry and add one more layer to create an opaque circle.

Once the white layer is dry – give it about 15-20 minutes – go in to paint the design.

For Grumpy Bear:
Paint the cloud first, then the rain drops. Once those are dry, go in with a tiny brush in red to draw “v”s. They come out looking like hearts so there’s less chance of them being too big. You’ll need to draw 3 on each “tummy”

For Cheer Bear:
Start by painting a thin slightly arced stripe of blue about 1/4 inch from the bottom. Allow 5 minutes to dry. Then paint stripes of green, yellow and red (from bottom to top) in the same method.

Paint a tiny heart on the outside heel of each shoe (because all Care Bears have those cute heart butt tag things) in red.

Allow to fully cure for 24 hours then use an iron and a piece of scrap fabric to heat set each design.

And well… you’re done! Let your 80’s baby flag fly! You are awesome and if you love it… you should wear it!

Ke$ha’s Woman has been playing on repeat for at least two days. And if you can get past the cursing (there is a lot) it’s a pretty awesome song of really just owning independence. Which is kinda awesome. Also… those horns. Take a listen if you’re down for it, it’s not your typical Ke$ha that’s for sure.

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All of that goes to say that this DIY is probably one of my favorite funtional ones I’ve one in a while. I’ve recently realized that I LOVE systems. If you follow my instagram stories, you’ll see me do daily journals and talk about how every Sunday I put stickers in my plannerto organize my week. I’m far from the most organized person, but I try where I can. Spending an hour or so to set myself up for success? Totally worth it. And yes. I pick out my clothes for the week on Sundays. It saves me a TON of time trying to figure out what is clean and what I “feel” like wearing. So yes, I treat myself like an elementary school kid sometimes, and you know what? I’m owning that shit with cute hanger tags.

Sassy Day of the Week Printable Hanger Tags

These tags are great because I created them to have a notes section on the back to add little things like which bra and shoes to wear with each outfit! Pretty snazzy heh?

I had a lot of these supplies on hand so they’re relatively inexpensive to create.Cost: $10 or less Time: 1 hour Organization level: 10!

I created these printables to also work with a Cricut craft cutter. I use an Explore Air 2 and I absolutely love it! Just resize them to be 6 inches wide in design space and use the print and cut function.

If you’re not using a cutting machine, simply print each tag template at 100% scale. They’re sized to be 6 inches wide.

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Before I get into this DIY I wanna talk a little bit about the band mentioned in the lyric above. Do you ever feel weird being a fan of a band that is super huge AGAIN? Like I went to their shows when they opened to Honda Civic Tour for Fall Out Boy (their first tour). I was there through the split up and consequent unknown afterwards. So it’s really strange to me to attend a concert of Panic! at the Disco when a lot of their fans now are younger than I was when they first formed as a band. I’m totally happy for them but it just makes me feel so… old? At what point did I become the parent in the room?!? Anyone else?

Okay so Sharks. Can we talk about Sharks? Because I’m really excited that it is Shark Week and also the premiere of Sharknado 5! Yep! There are 5 of them. And I am the first to admit that I have watched and LOVE all of them so far. They are the epitome of cheesy sci-fi and and so out there that it’s hilariously amazing. As for Shark Week… I learn a ridiculous amount without having to be scared out of my wits a la Deep Blue Sea or Jaws (Cheesy, yes I know but imagine watching those when you’re like 12. No more oceans thank you very much!)

Okay, so DIY. Yes, that’s why we’re all here. I started these to be earings but they ended up being way to big to put on the side of your head so I had to do some quick thinking and decided that cupcake toppers was the proper solution. I really love this project in particular because I can get some of the older kiddos involved and keep them busy. Perler beads are your BFFs when you work with 6+ year olds!

Make sure there are 3 rows of stick on the bottom. I forgot to add those to the pattern! Oops!!

These are super easy, as usual. Grab a square peg board and follow the patterns above. Iron as directed and allow them to cool completely before removing them from the peg boards. I found that a large square can hold 2 sharks and 2 fins so keep that in mind if you’re working on a large batch.

Stick in your favorite cupcake recipe and get down with your bad self! Depending on how you iron, these can also be washed in the dishwasher – top shelf please!

If you’re a pop punker, power pop, whatever you’re into and haven’t heard of Mariana’s Trench, you’re missing out. I firmly believe they’re Canada’s appology for Justin Bieber (because all of this is after Celine Dion who is a national treasure).

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You guys! I made a thing. Okay so that’s basically how I start every day of my life. But seriously, I kinda love it. This project? It was made while on a binge of the Mariana’s Trench Pandora Station while it was 100+ degrees outside and my bedroom doesn’t have AC. I do have an evaporative cooler, but that is beside the point. To say that sweat went into this placemat handbag is an understatement… okay that’s gross. Ignore that. BUT this I gotta say is pretty cool. I even put pom poms on it and you know how I feel about pom poms. AND it’s ORANGE!!! So bright and sunny! And you can change out the pom poms for fall should you feel like it!

Start by folding over the top 1/3 of each placemat and secure it with a safety pin. Glue the inside with Aleene’s® Original Tacky Glue® or hot glue to secure it down or sew the top edge of the fold. – let dry if you’re using glue

Match the fold sides inside and pin the outside edge around with safety pins. Sew around the outside edge right up to the folded area. It’s even easier if you’re glueing!

To attach the handles, position the handle centered so that 2/3 of the handle is above the fold. Secure down by loop stitching with embroidery thread and needle with 5-7 secure points. Secure each side and the center first and then add points on each side.

Do the same for the second. Trim up threads and glue down the stray embroidery thread to make sure knots hold.

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On hot summer nights I like to open up the windows, pull out my favorite vinyl and drink a cold glass of wine. I invite the gal pals over for some great conversation and noshing and well… we call those nights “Vinyl and Wine” nights. There is just something about the evening and flavors that really bring out the experience. And as you guys know… I am all about the sensory experience and flavor is probably at the top of my list.

Thanks Notable Wines for giving me the perfect excuse to host a great Vinyl and Wine night with my gal pals to talk sound and flavor senses. I teamed up with them today to make these pretty classy (if I do say so myself) lyric etched wine glasses inspired my their two varietals of Chardonnay that highlight the flavor right on the bottle!

For this get together, we had the Oaky and Buttery (California) Chardonnay and the Fruity and Crisp (Australia) Chardonnay. My favorite thing to do was pair each wine with a song or lyric that hightlighted the flavors so for the Oaky and Buttery Chardonnay, I chose a more full bodied, deeper song and for the Fruity and Crisp, I chose a song that is a little bit lighter and acoustic.

Song Lyric Etched Wine Glasses

To begin, clean your wine glasses off with rubbing alcohol. That will make sure you have a clean surface to start with.

Cut out your lyrics. If you’re super fancy and have a cricut, you can simply load the template into the design space and set the size – 3×2″.

If you want to do your own lyrics you can choose your font in the program and go to town! Mine turned out a little smudgy… but I think the quotes were a little long.

Adhere the lyric cut outs to your wine glasses. If you’re using larger quotes there will be some bubbles in the vinyl. That’s fine. Just use your nail to squidge it down so that the edges are sealed in.

Put on your latex or rubber glove and begin to paint on the etching cream in globs. Just dab it on there. Once it’s all on there, let it sit for 3-5 minutes. I found that for these glasses, 5 minutes was better.

Once it has set, simply wash the etching cream off in the kitchen sink. Peel the stencil away and rinse some more until everything is off of the glass.

Voila! Pour a glass of either Oaky and Buttery or Fruity and Crisp Notable Wines’ Chardonnay and pair with your favorite music. What songs will your pair it with at your next “Vinyl and Wine” night?

Amp up your summer music selection with a fun but possibly embarassing playlist of some of your favorite summer guilty pleasures!

Summer is half over and I gotta tell you guys, I am in desperate need of some windows down, fist pumping, singing at the top of your lungs action. But alas, I’m stuck in traffic. And I kinda don’t care? Is it bad if I annoy the car next to me with “Call Me Maybe” or “Come On Eileen”? Nope. No it is not. So I’m gonna do it. But with the windows up. Because it’s hot. And I don’t want to waste my air conditioning. Or something like that.

Since I’m on this quest to embrace my inner dork and be super open about it, I thought I’d share my Summer Guilty Pleasures Playlist with you guys. So whether you wanna jam with me or sing really loud or quietly snicker about the fact that I know ALL the words to “Summer Girls” AND “Teenage Dirtbag”, pop over toSpotify and have a listen! You know you want to!

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A few years ago when I worked in an office I was the defactocupcake baker. Basically I bake when I’m stressed and that job stressed me out so I would bake cupcakes on the weekends and would feed my stress cupcakes to all of my coworkers – hello run on sentence! Mostly because I did not want to stress eat them. See where I’m going with this? Okay maybe not.

So one Wednesday there was this declicious pan of amazing gooeyness on the break room table that I had not stress baked. Come to find out, they were called Slutty Brownies and I wondered why I hadn’t thought of them before. Let me tell you… I was in chocolate heaven! Like more than that kid in Matlidathat stole a piece of cake. Slutty brownies are an original invention from The Londoner, popularized by What’s Gabby Cooking, and made easy and a bit twisty by me.

These Easy Slutty Brownies are perfect for a girls night in, stress baking, easy baking, you name it and you need chocolate… get on it!

Show your Game of Thrones pride with some easy custom DIY Game of Thrones House Sigil Glasses. Represent your favorite houses and drink up!

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If there is one thing you must do at every Game of Thrones Premiere party, it is drink ale, or at least something that looks like it. It was the custom of the time dudes! So why not embrace your inner dork and love for Game of Thrones by repping your favorite house and letting your friends do the same?

Okay, so one year my friends all decided to dress up as Game of Thrones for Halloween. It was seriously amazing. We even had dragons! James wore leggings! It was magical.

The problem for me was that there wasn’t really a character that I connected with and other characters that I was interested in had already been claimed. Those friends of course ended up not going to Mickey’s Halloween Party with us, but decisions had to be made and they lost out. Me? After much deliberation, I stuck with House Stark. I made my own cape and went as (D)Eddard Stark. Why? Because I got to run around in a cape and I didn’t have to worry about a fancy dress. Enough said.

Create your own wood burned Game of Thrones Cutting Board with this easy tutorial. If you’ve ever wanted to try wood burning, this is a fun project to get you started!

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I admit it, I love Game of Thrones! But… I couldn’t hack the books. Anyone else in the same boat? I think what I love most is the fandom surrounding it. It is intense and I seriously love being in the room with my friends who are OBSESSED with it and I feel like it makes me a better fan? Or not. I don’t know. But I do know that I’m really interested to see what happens to particular characters and sometimes read spoilers of scenes that will probably make me want to puke… know know the ones I’m talking about. Sorry to get too graphic on you guys.

Anyway, this Game of Thrones Cutting Board is a gift for my friend who has made almost every “Winter is Coming” joke he can possibly make this month and more. If you’ve got one or you are that person this makes the perfect addition to your kitchen geekery!